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View Full Version : Hard drive crash - any way to get the files off?



cornelius85
07-02-2008, 10:25 PM
My wifes computer hard drive crashed. It started a ticking noise and then wouldn't go past the windows loading screen. It would keep resetting to the bios screen. Wondering if there is anyone on her who knows their way around this sort of thing and thinks they can help or knows of a company that could help. We are willing to pay a reasonable amount if there is a way of getting some of the files off. Obviously we should have been backing the hard drive up regularly by hind site is always 20/20.

Thanks for any help anyone can lend. My brother claims to know a fair bit about computers and hooked it up as a slave drive to see if he could get anything off of it, but said he couldn't. He said if I could find the ext hard drive I had within a couple of months from the original manufacture date the platters could be changed over and that might work, but the likelyhood of finding a 4 year old hard drive would be pretty slim. I believe it is a 250 gb Western digital if that makes any difference.

Thanks again if anyone is able to help me. Wife has a bunch of graphic art stuff she hopes isn't lost forever.

Grogador
07-02-2008, 10:57 PM
Google for the "freezer trick" otherwise find an *identical* drive (model/revision/controller) and find someone to swap the platters (quite a delicate process) or prepare to shell out a shitwad of cash for professional recovery. Backups ftw.

wildrice
07-02-2008, 10:59 PM
Tried reparing the harddrive with checkdisc when it was slaved?

There is a company in toronto that does hard drive recovery, they take the hd into a clean room, open it up and swap parts. Costs about 2grand though.

Grogador
07-02-2008, 11:03 PM
If it is clicking, checkdisk will probably fubar your data completely, since it'll start detecting and marking unreadable sectors all over the place.

Put it in a ziploc, leave it in the freezer for several hours, have a machine ready and slave it in... should buy you enough time to copy the important stuff.

Davetronz
07-02-2008, 11:39 PM
You could try the freezer trick (if the drive is overheating) and a program called OnTrack. I used to use it years ago for recovering data off of crashed hard drives. It can often take quite a bit of time, but in many cases data was recovered. It definitely isn't cheap if you are looking to get someone to do it for you.

Grogador
07-03-2008, 07:25 AM
Freezer trick has nothing to do with overheating, it loosens up seized platter and head bearings, which is what "clicking" is. Best part is, the platters stay untouched so you always have the $2000+ option after...

cornelius85
07-03-2008, 07:46 AM
Thanks for the options guys. Someone has messaged me offering to help for a reasonable fee if he is able to get anything off. My brother told me about the freezer trick. I didn't think that would actually do anything. I think he tried it, but I will have to ask him.

Thanks again. The files aren't worth $2000 but good to know there is one last option if nothing else works.

eblend
07-03-2008, 10:15 PM
Check your PM